Trussed rafter



June 21, 1960 F. E. MARSH 2,941,484

' 'TRUSSED RAFTER Filed April 20, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. 5415775 ELAM MflPJ/ ATTOR/YEK F. E. MARSH TRUSSED RAFTER June 21, 1960 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 20, 1955 INVENTOR. FAYETTE .ELAM MARSHATTOIPNEL/ United States Patent TRUSSED RAFTER Fayette Elam Marsh, 1025N. Lincoln Street,

Hastings, Nebr.

Filed Apr. 20, 1955, Set. N0. 502,599

3 Claims. (Cl. 108-23) This invention relates to a trussed rafter andmore particularly with one fabricated of wood and adapted to be foldedinto a relatively small area to facilitate easy handling and shipment.

In the building trade there is an increasing appreciation of the manyadvantages of the trussed rafter for the roof structure, particularly inthe smaller frame buildings, such as an individual residence or farmbuildings.

However, one of the disadvantages encountered in this type of rafter isthe fact that they land themselves most economically to mass productionin a centrally located factory, but they are extremely hard to handleand expensive to ship, particularly if any great distance is involved.

There are two ways in which the manufacture or assembly of trussedrafters are traditionally handled. One, of course, is the previouslymentioned factory assembly and shipment as a complete unit. Anothermethod has been to precut the various sections and provide the builderwith the jig, which might be used on the building site to guide theconstruction workers in the assembly of the unit.

- .The last method, while overcoming the objection of bulk, which is thedisadvantage encountered in shipment, places an extra burden upon thebuilder and reduces the advantages of mass production and the consequenteconomy.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a trussed rafterwhich may be mass produced in a centrally located factory, and yetshipped in small, compact bundles to the building site where it will befinally connected.

It is yet another object of my invention to provide a trussed rafterwhich employs a plurality of pivotal joints.

It is a still further object of my invention to provide a device of thetype described in which provision is made for bracing members adapted toprovide a small margin of adjustment.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a trussed rafter inwhich the lower chord may be spliced at the building site while thebalance of the rafter is already connected.

Other and further features and objects of the invention will be moreapparent to those skilled in the art upon a consideration of theaccompanying drawings and following specifications, wherein is discloseda single exemplary embodiment of the invention, with the understanding,however, that such changes may be made therein as fall within the scopeof the appended claims, without departing fiom the spirit of theinvention.

In said drawings:

- Figure l is a side view of a trussed rafter constructed Figure 5 is aside view of the rafter, partially folded and disconnected at pointsprovided for that purpose.

Figure 6 is a view in perspective of the crown plate showing the pivotalpoint within the plate in dotted lines. Figure 7 is a view inperspective of the splicing saddle in enlarged view, and

Figure 8 is a side view of the diagonal brace used for downwardly andoutwardly to connect to the lower chord 10 by means of bolts .16 and 17.Twoadditional diagonal braces 18 and 19 are nailed in an outwardposition to the previously mentioned diagonal braces 13 and 14, andextend to the upper chord where they are nailed in position.

The lower chord consists of two sections 20 and 21.- These are separate,but are spliced together at their joining points by the steel saddlemember 31.

The upper and lower chords are connected at their outer extremitiesby-bolts 22 and 23. The inner ends of the upper chords are connected tothe crown plate by bolts 24 and 25.

It is appropriate to indicate here that the lower chord 10 is formed ofa single thickness of timber, while the upper chords 11 and 12 .areformed of two spaced-apart planks, such as 26 and 27 of Figure 3.

While an ordinary bolt connection could be used at joints 22, 23, 24 and25, I prefer to use ring connectors as well as bolts, such as are shownat 28 and 29 of Figure 4. It will be noted that these are positionedbetween two adjoining planks in a recess cut for that pur-' pose. Ofcourse the pivotal movement of two boards so connected is much easierand, at the same time, the loading is distributed over a wider area;therefore the strength of the joint is increased.

Referring now to Figure 5; it will be seen that a rafter constructedaccording to my invention is capable of being folded, using the crownplate 15 as the pivot point around which the entire motion of thevarious parts is centered.

The two lower chords, such as 21, being pivotally mounted on the bolt23, and comprising only one thickness of lumber, can be folded upwardlybetween the two planks of the upper chord. The brace 13, which is alsopivotally mounted'on the crown plate, may be folded inwardly and willlie along the edge of the folded upper and lower chords. This makes acomplete folded assembly, such as is shown generally at 30. These twohalves may then be brought together to make one small bundle.

The diagonal braces 18 and 19 may be packaged separately as well as thesaddle member 31.

The diagonal braces are not incorporated in the structure by a pivotaljoint for a particular reason. It is a well known fact that in cuttinglumber, there should be a fairly large permissible tolerance. As aresult, the truss, when fully assembled, may not be quite as rigid or inthe exact form as would be desired. These two short braces can then benailed into position, providing thereby a form of adjustment and givingabsolute rigidity to the entire structure.

It will be noted that the saddle member servesas a splice means for thetwo lower chords and have at 11131111:

Patented J une 21, 1960 aged trusses can be shipped in a single truck orfreight car than could be shipped were they fully assembled and nailedtogether, as is the conventional practice. It is also apparent that theyare much easier to assemble on the building site and much more accuratethan they would be were they comprised of simply precut lengths oflumber..

Although I have described a specific embodiment of my invention, it isapparent that modifications thereof may be made by those skilled in theart. Such modifications may be made without departing from the spirit.

and scope of my invention. as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

'1. In a foldable trussed rafter of the type described, a substantiallyrectangular crown plate comprising a single thickness of material, apair of upper chord members pivotally attached to said crown plate androtatable inwardly and outwardly from each other, said chord memberseach comprising a pair of planks positioned one on each side of saidcrown plate, the pivotal mounting points of said chord members beingspaced apart on centers substantially twice the width of one of saidchord members, a: pair of brace members pivotally mounted on said crownplate at a point below and rnid way of the aforesaid pivotal. mountingposition of said chord members, said brace members being positioned oneto each side of said crown plate and of a widthnot greater than thewidth of one of said chord planks to permitsaid brace members to lietherebetween and parallel thereto in the same plane as the adjacentplanks of the adjacent chord members; a lower chord member comprising aco-linear plank in two sections; each section thereof being pivotallyjoined at an end of each to the outer end of'said respective upper chordmembers andbeing of a lesser length than said upper chord members, eachsection of said lower chord member being positioned 'to' befoldedcoextensive with and in between the opposed planks of said upperchordmembers, and splice means for connecting the two sections of saidlower chord member, the positioning of said upper and lower chordmembers and brace members as aforesaid being such that when folded, thepairs of planks formingthe upper chord members and brace members oneither face ofthe crown plate will lie in substantially the same planeparallel to each other and the sections lower chord member willliebetween the separate planks of' their respective upper chord member andin substantially the plane of the single thickness of the crown plate.

2. In a device of the type described, a crown plate, upper" right andleft chord members, each comprising a pair of spaced-apart plankspositioned on either side of said crown plate andpivotally'attached'thereto in spaced relation to permit them to bepivoted inwardly to a spaced apart and parallel positon thereby leavinga measured space therebetween, avlower chord member comprising aco-linear plank in two sections, each section thereof being pivotallyjoined to the outer end' of said upper chord members and between saidplanks thereof, each section of the lower-"chord member being of slight-1y lesser length than the adjacent upper chord'member,

whereby said sections of the lower chord member may be folded into saidrespective upper chord members, and brace means pivotally attachedrespectively against front and rear faces of said crown plate betweenthe pivoted attachments of said upper chord members thereto and adaptedto be secured to said lower chord memher, said pivotally mounted bracemeans being so positioned that they may be folded into positon to occupysaid measured space between said pivoted upper right and left chordmembers, and splice means for joining the free ends of said two sectionsof co-line'ar plank constituting the lower chord member.

3. An article of manufacture of the type described comprising incombination an elongated crown plate of generally rectangular shape andof a thickness from front to back of substantially less than its lengthor height, a pair of right hand chord members attached pivotally at oneend to one end of the crown plate and disposed one against the front andone against the back of said crown plate, a pair of left hand chordmembers attached pivotally at one end to the other end of the crownplate and likewise disposed one against the front and one against the 7back of said crown plate, said right and left hand pairs of chordmembers extending parallel to each other and being spaced apart in theirpivotal connections to said crown plate so as to leave a measured spacetherebetween said parallel extending chord members, a right hand lowerchord member of lesser length than the right hand chord members andpivotaliy connected at one end to the other end of said right hand chordmembers and lying sandwiched therebetween and of substantially the samewidth as said right hand chord members, a left hand lower chord memberof lesser length than the left hand chord members and pivotallyconnected at one end to the other end of said left hand chord membersand lying sandwiched therebetween and of substantially the same width assaid left hand chord members, a first brace member having one end lyingadjacent the front of said crown plate, a second brace member having oneend lying adjacent the rear of said crown plate, a common pivotconnecting said ends of the first and second brace members to the crownplate at a point lying be tween said pivotal connections of said rightand left hand chord members to the crown plate and spaced from a linejoining the pivotal connections of said right and left hand chordmembers in a direction toward the other ends of said right and left handchord members, said brace members occupying throughout their length aportion of said measured space between said right and'left hand chordmembers and being parallel to and each lying in a separate common planewith their respectively adjacent right and left hand chord members.

References-Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS457,418 Hodges Aug. 11, 1891 765,382 Fleming July 19, 1904 949,394 DalyFeb. 15, 1910 1,048,704 King Dec. 31, 1912 2,604,060 Hanson July 22,1952' FOREIGN PATENTS 661,609 France 1929' OTHER REFERENCES Manual ofTimber Connector Construction, page 2', 1939, by Timber Engineering Co.

Modern Timber Roof Trusses, 1940, page 2,Timb er Engineering Co.

